Edwards, Miller Lead OSU Into NCAA Championships

Wednesday, June 8

Eugene, Ore.

All Day

Oklahoma State University

NCAA Outdoor Championships

June 07, 2016 | Cowboy Cross Country & Track, Cowgirl Cross Country & Track

The Basics
            Five Cowgirls and four Cowboys head to Eugene, Oregon, for the NCAA Outdoor Championships, where they will be put to the test against the best collegiate athletes in the nation for a national title and All-America honors.

Follow the Meet
            Oklahoma State's results and a full recap will be available on okstate.com following the completion of each day's events.
            To check out live results from all four days of the championships, visit NCAA.com.

Broadcast Information
            The 2016 NCAA Championships will be broadcast all weekend on the ESPN family of networks.
            Wednesday's events will air on that day beginning at 6:30 p.m. CT on ESPN2. Thursday will start at the same time on ESPNU, then switch to ESPN at 7 p.m.
            Friday and Saturday will both be broadcast on ESPN, with Friday's championship event coverage beginning at 7:30 p.m., and Saturday's coverage begins at 5:30 p.m.

Meet Format/Schedule (All Times CT)
            The four-day championship event starts Wednesday for OSU with the men's hammer throw final at 4 p.m. The men's 100-meter semifinal at 7:46 p.m. will close out day one.
            Thursday marks the beginning of the women's championship events, and it starts at 6:46 p.m. with the 1,500-meter semifinal, and the steeplechase semifinal immediately follows at 7:02.
            The 800-meter semifinal begins at 8:14 p.m., then the shot put final follows at 8:30 to conclude Thursday's events.
            A full schedule of the events is available on the NCAA website.

Cowgirl NCAA Qualifiers
Savannah Camacho (800m), Aurora Dybedokken (5,000m), Chase Ealey (Shot Put), Kaela Edwards (1,500m), Ingeborg Loevnes (3,000m Steeplechase)

Cowboy NCAA Qualifiers
Cerake Geberkidane (5,000m), Nick Miller (Hammer Throw), Vegard Oelstad (5,000m), John Teeters (100m)

Last Time Out
            At the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds in Lawrence, Kansas at the end of May, Oklahoma State got nine athletes through to the NCAA Championships.
            Nick Miller only needed one throw to clinch a spot in his third NCAA Outdoor Championships on the first day of competition. Miller stepped into the ring and launched a season-best 76.93m/252-4 foot throw to advance to Oregon, marking the best throw in the competition and in the NCAA this season.
            John Teeters ran in the first heat of the 100-meter dash and qualified on time with a 10.26.
            He goes to Eugene in pursuit of his first NCAA title after finishing runner-up at indoors twice and missing out on last year's outdoor championships due to injury.
            Savannah Camacho got through on time in a quick 800-meter heat. Finishing just behind defending champion Raevyn Rogers of Oregon in heat five, Camacho ran a 2:06.37 and clinched a return trip to Hayward Field where she took eighth in the final a season ago.
            Her most recent first-team All-America honor came this indoor season when she finished fourth in the 800.
            In the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase, Cowgirl senior Ingeborg Loevnes qualified automatically when she took second in her heat in 10:02.40.
            Loevnes and two other women established a lead pack early and never looked back. It will be Loevnes' second-consecutive year advancing to the final. While she made the final last year, she sustained an injury before the race and did not compete.
            In the women's 1,500-meter quarterfinal, NCAA indoor mile champion Kaela Edwards cruised to the national semifinal finishing second in heat three in 4:18.40.
            For the first time in her young Cowgirl career, Aurora Dybedokken advanced to the NCAA Championships in the 5,000 after winning her heat and running the top women's time of the day in 16:08.16.
            Chase Ealey's throw of 16.89m/55-5 was enough to get her through to her first outdoor final in the shot put.
            The 12-time All-Big 12 thrower earned first-team All-America honors for the first time during the indoor season, and looks to do the same in Oregon as she comes into the meet with the fourth-best throw in the NCAA this season.
            Cerake Geberkidane took a commanding lead with a little under a mile to go in the 12-lap race, but was caught by the field, including fellow Cowboy Vegard Oelstad on the final lap. His plan worked, however, as he finished fourth in his heat with and automatic qualifying bid and Oelstad crossed the line just behind him in fifth.

A Look Back
            At last season's NCAA Championships, Chad Noelle became the 15th Cowboy in school history to win an Outdoor title.
            Natalja Piliusina finished fourth in the 1,500-meter run, and Savannah Camacho took home first-team All-America honors in the 800.
            Two qualifiers did not participate due to injury in Ingeborg Loevnes (steeplechase) and John Teeters (100m/4X100).
            The Cowboys finished 19th and the Cowgirls took 35th.

Edwards Seeks Second National Title
            Despite being sidelined with an injury during the Big 12 Championships a little under a month ago, indoor mile champion Kaela Edwards ran a smooth race at the West Preliminary Rounds in the 1,500 and is set to compete for her second crown of the year this weekend.
            It is the Colorado native's first season primarily running the 1,500, but Edwards hasn't let the jump slow her down as she has already grabbed the No. 3 time in school history at 4:17.07.
            If Edwards wins the title, she would become the third Cowgirl to ever win a championship outdoors, and second in school history to win both an indoor and outdoor title in the same season. Jackie Goodman did it in 1989, winning the 5,000 indoors and 10,000 outdoors.
            With her indoor appearance this season, Edwards is already on an impressive streak of three straight indoor championships appearances, a streak that has only been met by former teammate and NCAA Champion Natalja Pilisusina.
            As for a streak outdoors, only Goodman and Piliusina have run in more consecutive outdoor championships than Edwards with three. Camacho has also appeared in two straight.

Norway to Explain it
            Two weeks ago at the West Preliminary Rounds in Lawrence, Kansas, Oklahoma State advanced nine athletes to the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Of those nine, three were from Norway.
            The three Norwegian internationals have had a major impact on the OSU program in their short stints on campus. Ingeborg Loevnes and Vegard Oelstad are both senior transfer students, and Aurora Dybedokken is just a sophomore.
            Among Oelstad, Loevnes and Dybedokken, the trio holds four Big 12 titles and has scored a combined 66 points at the conference indoor and outdoor championships this season.
            Oelstad and Dybedokken will both run in the 5,000-meter final, with Oelstad taking to the track for the men's final Friday, then Dybedokken the following day. The multi-talented Loevnes will run in the 3,000-meter steeplechase semifinal seeking her second All-America honor of the year Thursday.

Miller Still on Bowerman Watch List
            The United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association released its final watch list for the Bowerman Award before the NCAA Outdoor Championships, and Oklahoma State's Nick Miller kept his name on it after two weekends of stellar competition.
            Miller finally made his season debut at the Big 12 Outdoor Championships, but his delayed start to his swan song as a Cowboy didn't affect his place on the Bowerman Award watch list where he received votes all year, including the indoor season.
            Along with breaking the conference record and taking gold at the Big 12 Championships in the hammer throw, Miller smashed the Rock Chalk Park facility record with his first and only attempt at the NCAA West Preliminary in the hammer throw, landing a mark of 76.93m/252-4 feet.
            Miller was also named as the USTFCCCA Midwest Region's Field Athlete of the Year this week, adding to his long list of plaudits.
            The next watch list will be released following the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
            Just three finalists are selected and the vote for the Bowerman will be announced in December of 2016.

OSU Fields 28 Academic All-Big 12 Honorees
            Oklahoma State was well represented on the 2016 Big 12 Academic All-Conference list, released Tuesday, with 11 Cowboys and 17 Cowgirls earning the honor.
            The 28 total student-athletes on the list gave the Pokes second in the conference behind the 30 student-athletes honored from both the University of Kansas and University of Texas.
            The Cowgirls led the conference in first team honors, and three student-athletes in Natalie Baker, Stephanie Ferrante and Sarah Robinson earned the first-team spot with a 4.0 grade point average. Overall, OSU's four 4.0 student-athletes, including decathlete Cole Verble, is a Big 12 high as well.
            The Cowboys' 10 first-team all-conference honorees is the second-most in the Big 12, tied with Kansas and trailing only Texas' 11.
            First team members consist of those who have maintained a 3.20 or better GPA while the second team selections hold a 3.00 to 3.19 GPA.
            To qualify, student-athletes must maintain a 3.00 GPA or higher either cumulative or the two previous semesters and must have participated in 60 percent of their team's scheduled contests. Freshmen and transfers are not eligible in their first year of academic residence. Senior student-athletes who have participated for a minimum of two years and meet all the criteria except percent of participation are also eligible.
            In total, 222 student-athletes were named to the list.